Wake up, Tories. You don't own Euroscepticism any more

It is hardly surprising that Bill Cash was in such a state during his Bruges Group debate with Nigel Farage yesterday in Manchester. A man who was once on the fringes as a Tory rebel now lies deep in the soul of the Cameroon consciousness – without even realising it.

"Lay off our marginals!" Mr Cash bellowed. I'm sorry, whose marginals? Yours? The Tories'? How quaint it must have been, once upon a time, for those who opposed socialism to be forced to back one party, one candidate. But times have changed. It is no longer Labour vs the Conservatives. The Lib Dems are in government and Ukip are polling third nationally. This is the new reality.

What a stark contrast between two types of euroscepticism. Bill Cash, a veteran rebel who has failed to stop his party's push for a European superstate, despite years and years of protests. And Nigel Farage, a man who is an internet sensation and who received a standing ovation at the conference fringe of a party he hasn't been a member of since he was a boy. If anything defines the new politics that mashes up tribal division lines, it is surely that.

Bill Cash sadly let the times pass him by. As Brussels' grip tightened its bureaucratic noose around Britain's neck, he failed to advocate full-scale EU withdrawal. Such critical reformism of the EU has had its day and the public have had enough. Cash's partisan euroscepticism and sense of Tory entitlement are finished, done, over.